Monday, July 14, 2008

In the first of four practices this week, three in Seattle, the Storm scrimmaged extrensively against its mostly-male practice squad. It was the most action the media has seen in a while. Some highlights:

- Katie Gearlds was on fire, as you can read about in today's feature story.- Tanisha Wright and Camille Little ran a pick-and-roll to perfection, resulting in a layup for Little.- Little drew some laughs when a pass bounced off her back on defense when she was faceguarding her opposing number and not looking at the ball. "Nice defense, Camille," yelled one teammate. (In fact, it was.)

Swin Cash and Yolanda Griffith took the practice off to rest, and we did not see Sue Bird on the floor either.

According to Storm Head Coach Brian Agler, with the Storm defense clicking, it's the offense that will be more of a focal point this week.

"We'd like to tighten up our offense a little bit if we could," he said. "Hopefully stay with our same rhythm defensively, keep focusing on the rebounding side of things, blocking out. We'll work against the press this week. We're playing against some teams that will press us the next few games."

Today is the last day of Kristen O'Neill's second seven-day contract, meaning the Storm will have to make a decision tomorrow whether to sign O'Neill for the remainder of the season or allow her contract to expire and fill the open roster spot with another player. Agler said the team hadn't made any decisions yet on O'Neill's future.

WHY DON'T THEY JUST OUTRIGHT SIGN O'NEILL?? CLEARLY SHE'S PROVEN HER VALUE OR THEY WOULD HAVE CUT HER LOOSE LONG AGO. I CAN'T IMAGINE ANYONE HAVING TO PLAY UNDER THESE 7 DAY CONTRACTS--SEEMS PRETTY CRUEL. AGLER SAID THERE WAS A STRONG POSSIBILITY THE STORM WOULD BE SIGNING HER FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR & THEN HE THROWS HER ANOTHER 7 DAY SCRAP! AS A SEASON TICKET HOLDER & LOYAL FAN, I'M LOSING ALOT OF RESPECT FOR THE FRONT OFFICE. YOU DON'T TREAT PEOPLE LIKE THAT!

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StormTracker, the official blog of the Seattle Storm, features Kevin Pelton, who enters his seventh season of covering the Storm for stormbasketball.com in 2009. Check out StormTracker for complete offseason coverage and Kevin's analysis of the Storm and the WNBA as a whole.Contact KevinStorm Tracker RSS